Pronunciation: LOO-so-TI-tan
Meaning: Luso Giant (see eymology)
Author/s: Antunes and Mateus (2003)
Synonyms: Brachiosaurus alataiensis
First Discovery: Lourinhã, Portugal
Discovery Chart Position: #525
Lusotitan atalaiensis
Brachiosaurus alataiensis, known from five different sites across Portugal but mostly from a single specimen found atop the Atalaia cliffs, was tentatively named by de Lapparent and Zbyszewski in 1957 on the strength of an elongated humerus: a hallmark feature of Brachiosaurus, the "Arm Lizard".
After a 2003 review of Portuguese dinosaurs, this late Jurassic macronarian sauropod was severed from Brachiosaurus and renamed Lusotitan by Antunes and Mateus without a sniff of justification. But it was Brachiosaurus enough to remain in Brachiosauridae — the sauropod family closest to and anchored by Brachiosaurus — due to the proportions of its limbs, features of its vertebrae and tilt of its hip.
As is often the case with sauropods, its skull is missing. But if Lusotitan really is a brachiosaurid it probably had a short, dome-topped noggin adorned with huge nostrils (Macronaria means "huge nostrils") perched on a long neck that was held more vertically than the neck of non-brachiosaurid sauropods. But if it isn't, it possibly won't.
After a 2003 review of Portuguese dinosaurs, this late Jurassic macronarian sauropod was severed from Brachiosaurus and renamed Lusotitan by Antunes and Mateus without a sniff of justification. But it was Brachiosaurus enough to remain in Brachiosauridae — the sauropod family closest to and anchored by Brachiosaurus — due to the proportions of its limbs, features of its vertebrae and tilt of its hip.
As is often the case with sauropods, its skull is missing. But if Lusotitan really is a brachiosaurid it probably had a short, dome-topped noggin adorned with huge nostrils (Macronaria means "huge nostrils") perched on a long neck that was held more vertically than the neck of non-brachiosaurid sauropods. But if it isn't, it possibly won't.
Etymology
Lusotitan is derived from "Luso" (the inhabitants of ancient Lusitania, a Roman province that included most of what is now Portugal and part of Spain) and the Greek "Titan" (the giant primordial Greek gods who ruled the roost before the Olympian Gods turned up flexing their various body parts).
The species epithet, atalaiensis, means "from Atalaia" in Latin.
Discovery
The first fossils of Lusotitan were discovered in the Lourinhã Formation at Peralta, near Atalaia, Lourinhã, West Portugal, by Manuel de Matos, a collector for the Geological Survey of Portugal, in 1947. The Lourinhã Formation is notable for having a similar fauna to that of the USA's Morrison Formation and Tanzania's Tendaguru beds.The original authors failed to assign a holotype but those who renamed it in 2003 nominated the most complete skeleton as lectotype. Its "bits" are catalogued as MIGM 4798, 4801-10, 4938, 4944, 4950, 4952, 4958, 4964-6, 4981-2, 4985, 8807, 8793-5.
• Antunes MT and Mateus O (2003) "
